'I had to steel myself to do it': PM Wong on hardest part of his job, and 'very painful' party renewal process for GE2025

The hardest part of being prime minister is having to manage people, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in an interview with The Financial Times (FT) on Tuesday (Oct 21).

In a 27-minute-long interview, PM Wong fielded questions from FT's editor Roula Khalaf about the changing world order and Singapore's economy, in addition to the biggest challenge he has faced since stepping into the leadership role as prime minister in 2024.

While he began his response by stating that "there are many hard things", PM Wong singled out people management and the process of party renewal as the hardest.

"I would say the hardest has been really in managing people," he said, adding that it turned out to be much harder than he expected prior to assuming the position.

In particular, he spoke about Singapore's General Election which took place earlier this year in May.

As leader of the People's Action Party (PAP), he faced the difficult task of strategising and planning for the party's renewal.

He said: "One of the keys to the PAP's success has been a full focus on renewing our team every election. And this is not easy to do at all."

The hardest part of being in such a position is having to decide which members to keep on and which to drop, he said, adding that it was "very painful" to have such conversations with members not being chosen to move forward.

"It is very easy to say, 'let us just continue with the status quo. I do not want to offend anyone. It is okay. We all move along'. But then if I do less of the renewal, I will pay the price for it five, 10, 20 years from now," he explained, saying that he had to keep the party's best interests in mind.

PM Wong said: "I had to steel myself to do it and manage it, and I am glad we had a good election outcome at the end of the day." 

Prior to his answer, Khalaf had asked if he'd met US President Donald Trump, to which PM Wong stated that he had not.

"Okay, so you haven't done the hardest," Khalaf quipped.

Brace for more turbulence ahead

PM Wong also spoke about the reciprocal tariffs imposed by Trump and their global impacts.

"We are certainly in the midst of a great transition to a multipolar world," he said, acknowledging that the rules-based multilateral system that was so familiar has now been disrupted.

Singapore is now "in an uncomfortable position where the old rules do not apply anymore, but the new ones have not been written, and we must brace ourselves for more turbulence ahead."

At the same time, he said that the country "cannot afford to just wait for things to happen or hope somehow that things magically will fall in place", and that Singapore is keen to take action and work with like-minded countries to overcome the current uncertainties.

Singapore's economy has remained more resilient than expected, PM Wong said, owing to front-loading activities and new technologies like AI.

He cautioned about a slowdown in the second half of the year, however, nothing that businesses are holding back on investments and hiring amid the prolonged uncertainty.

He also likened Singapore's economy to "a canary in the coal mine", noting that the openness of the economy results in its vulnerabilities to external changes.

"We are the first to feel it when the external environment starts to weaken," he said.

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dana.leong@asiaone.com